Glendale East Public School

Ms SONIA HORNERY (Wallsend—Parliamentary Secretary) [4.59 p.m.]: What makes a community special? What harmonises a community? How do we create happy and sustainable communities? On the weekend of 15 and 16 March an extraordinary group of people gathered to undertake essential community work in the electorate of Wallsend. The participants formed a working bee of 30 parents and children, willing to sacrifice their precious weekend to make their local public resource a beautiful example of environmental education. This special facility is the Glendale East Public School that has within its grounds a unique environment habitat.

Glendale East Public School is fortunate to contain 16 acres of land, with a creek running through it. Of course, many inner-city schools would be envious of the expanse of playground, but it comes at a large, labour-intensive cost. How can a public school, in a socioeconomic area of workers mostly earning average or below-average wages, adequately maintain the land? I will outline the humble beginnings of the school's quest to improve its grounds. Ten years ago the school was a dust bowl in the summer and a mudslide in the winter. The 16 acres of ground were totally underused. It was hard to mow the grounds, let alone utilise them. Erosion and flooding problems were the greatest issues. The creek also required rehabilitation. Environmental work at Glendale East Public School began with a New South Wales Labor Government grant in 2000 to build bird-attracting gardens. The creek restoration was seeded by a State Government grant of $2,500. With an eye on the future, the parents and citizens association kicked in and erected a citrus swale. The swale helped prevent erosion, with the citrus for sale at a later date.

The school and parents and citizens association had dreams. With extremely hard work and some New South Wales Labor Government grants, these dreams have been realised. I will highlight some of the environmental accomplishments of Glendale East Public School: a student green team, a school Landcare group, a series of water diverging and cleaning swales to reduce erosion and flooding, a curriculum with environmental perspectives, a recycling program, weekly classroom power audits, water testing, a bush tucker garden, yearly whole school creek planting rehabilitation project, a small frog pond, a series of native gardens, including fern and lilly pilly hedge, worm farms and vegetable patches where students grow organic produce. I understand the pumpkins are very popular and the evidence is in the sales—a remarkable total of more than $300. The school principal, Maria Williams, referred to the successful outcome, and stated:

The results for Glendale's families are an appreciation of recycling, mulching and growing plants, both native and vegetable. Parents say that we have inspired their children to be the environmental gatekeepers of their families, telling them to compost, turn off the lights, save water and recycle. The students have also inspired parents to set up their own vegetable patches.

Ms Williams further thanked the State Labor Government and Landcare for making this environmental project possible, for without them the school would not have the resources to embark on these projects. Also, the mammoth support of Lake Macquarie City Council deserves recognition. The school parents and citizens executive, Megan Staff, Michelle Bryson, Kim Lennard and Lea Fry, and the school leaders of 2008, Hayley Bryson, Madison Honeysett, Lachlan Gratton, Tyson Beatty, Sam Dyson, Joe Fry and Sarah Kelly, are enthusiastic to maintain the current projects, build on them and begin new endeavours. I take a brief moment to acknowledge the parents and citizens association, staff and students at Glendale East Public School for their incredible effort in enhancing knowledge of the environment through the use of both practical and intellectuals skills, which, I am sure all members would agree, is the best way to learn.